


You Get Brighter the More it Gets Dark

by haledamage



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Gen, POE Fic Swap 2017, Platonic Cuddling, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 03:43:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11683317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haledamage/pseuds/haledamage
Summary: Kai and Kana watch the stars and find commonalities in an unfamiliar land.





	You Get Brighter the More it Gets Dark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [queen_scribbles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Starlight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11329953) by [queen_scribbles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles). 



> queen_scribbles gave me the prompt "Kai's POV on Kana telling a story one night while they're traveling" and that combined with inspiration from her story Starlight I decided to write a stargazing scene between Kana and my own Watcher.
> 
> all constellations and their stories were made up and I don't know if that's quite how the stars and the curvature of the planet actually work, but I'm going with it
> 
> completely unbetaed

"You know, I don't think I've seen you sleep a full night since we met." Kana's cheerful voice broke Kai from her daydreaming and back to the present. He sat across the fire from her with a book open across his lap and a pen in one hand, writing notes about something.

Kai huffed in amusement. "I'm starting to forget what a full night's sleep feels like." She thought fondly of her bedroll for a moment, likely laid out in her tent between Aloth and Edér, who were probably already settled down for the night. She shook the thought away; she doubted sleep would come tonight, and if it did there was no sense keeping them awake with her nightmares. Instead, she pulled two books from her bag, the first of which she was working on translating and writing into the second.

She and Kana sat in comfortable silence, content with their own studies as the night darkened and their companions fell into slumber. She could feel his eyes on her every so often, but whatever was on his mind he didn't say.

After a few pages, Kai's mind began to wander, then her eyes. She found herself staring up at the stars, endless and bright behind wisps of cloud. The sky seemed to stretch infinitely above the clearing they camped in. She hunted for familiar star formations, but the Dyrwood and her childhood home in the Cythwood may as well have been different worlds; nothing looked familiar.

"They're the same stars, you know," Kana said, and Kai jumped at hearing his voice so close. He had moved to sit right next to her at some point and followed her eyes as they traveled the sky. "You're just approaching from a different angle. Take…" he scanned quickly, looking for something specific. "Take that cluster there, you see?"

He leaned down to her level and she followed his arm to one star that flickered a little brighter than those around it. He traced a slow curving pattern above and below that bright star. He sketched the constellation on a blank page of his journal and showed it to her.

"Here in the Dyrwood, this is The Huntress, a great lioness that was so fierce and cunning that she could catch Galawain himself. He rewarded her prowess by raising her up among the stars where she can stalk its endless fields."

There was something Kai found comforting, even calming, in the voice Kana used when he told stories. It was similar to the tone he used when chanting, somewhere between talking and singing, and it pushed the incessant, creeping whispers away until the whole world was just elf and aumaua and an endless sea of stars.

"But in Rauatai…" Kana continued, turning his book so the constellation was now diagonal, "this is The Princess and Her Consort. There's a lot of different versions of their story. Some say it was a lean year, when the fields were fallow and even the fishing was scarce, and the ruling family chose to sacrifice their only daughter to Ondra so the seas would provide for them again. Others, that the princess was a rebellious and strong-willed girl and her parents wanted to sacrifice her to Galawain in hopes that their next child would better know their place."

As he spoke, he started sketching in his notebook, the figure of a girl with a flowing dress and long curly hair. The curve of the constellation followed the shape of her head and the bright center star was her outstretched hand.

Kana was still talking, "The princess, who is called Airenrwd in most versions, had a lover--who was either Dres, one of her bodyguards, or Natari, a peasant girl, but either way someone below the princess's station."

"Maybe it was both," Kai interrupted with a smile, watching the sweep of Kana's pen across the page, "maybe Airenrwd loved both Dres and Natari."

"Or maybe Dres and Natari were the same person, like Aloth and Iselmyr," Kana added with a wide grin, "but whoever they were, they stepped in and saved the princess at the cost of their own life. And as Airenrwd's beloved died in her arms, she swore her vengeance on those who took them from her. She raised an army and burned the entire kingdom to the ground and only when she stood in the ashes of her childhood home did she finally weep for her family's betrayal and her lost love.

"Hylea heard her cries and sympathized with her pain, but the Sky-Mother has no power over death. But she does rule the sky, so she brought the princess and her consort to the stars where they could be together forever." He showed Kai his drawing, two figures whose hands met over the bright star, faces hidden behind long hair and a curve of stars as they moved to embrace.

Kai pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. She couldn't decide if she felt the princess's story had a happy or sad ending. A god may have returned her lover to her, but it had also been a god that took them away; it seemed to Kai that the princess and her consort had just been pawns in the games of a higher power.

Kana's big hand landed on her shoulder before she could get too deep into her own mind, though, and when she looked up his smile was as wide as the sky and a thousand times less mysterious. "Copper for your thoughts?"

She sighed. "Just being maudlin. Thinking of my own fate and how much it feels as if I'm a puppet whose strings are being controlled by an unknown power."

"You think our travels are guided by divine providence?" He asked contemplatively. He scratched at his chin, eyes distant and considering. "It does appear that the Leaden Key and the mysterious man you saw in Cilant Lîs consider themselves to be working for Woedica, though whether she set them on the path herself is unknown. If one of the other gods opposes her plan, it's not so far-fetched that they would put another on the path to stop them."

"What's one woman's life, happiness, and sanity worth in the games of gods, do you think?" She said bitterly, hugging her legs closer. "But then that makes me wonder how many choices I've made were actually my own, and then it's just a downward spiral of angst and supposition and that's no fun for anyone." She turned her head towards him and forced a smile. "But we were talking about constellations."

Kana chuckled, "Yes, indeed we were. And I was just getting to the best part." He turned his notebook upside down and presented it to her. "This is that same group of stars as it looks from the Aedyr mainland. Do you recognize it now?"

"The Bard." Kai searched the sky again until she found the cluster and this time tilted her head until it looked like it did on the paper. Just like that, she was home; the stars stretched out before her in familiar shapes and whorls as if she stood at her window on her parents' estate, a lifetime and half a world away.

"I guess his is another story about divine intervention, isn't it." Kana said carefully.

"Yes, but perhaps less bittersweet than Airenrwd's. I'm not much of a storyteller, though."

"You never know until you try."

She thought about it for a second, then nodded. She straightened her legs, sat up, and began to speak in a pale imitation of Kana's storytelling voice, "The Bard was a scholar, sometimes a librarian or a priest of Wael in the stories, who had a younger brother who got very sick. He searched everywhere for a cure, consulted every book and healer he could find, but the boy only got sicker, until one day The Bard had a vision of Wael. Wael told him that they could heal the boy, but only if The Bard brought them a story that had never been told."

Kai knew that her friend must already know this story--she doubted there were any stories he _didn't_ know--but he listened with rapt attention, and her smile finally started to feel real again. She continued, "So The Bard packed his bags and set out to travel the world. He explored hidden caves and big cities, tall mountains and deep rivers. He had friends, and enemies, and lovers all around the world, of all manner of kith. He was gone for many years. And when he finally returned, he handed a huge tome to Wael, written in his own hand. A story that had never been told: the story of The Bard himself."

Kana laughed and Kai grinned at her friend's joy. She was fairly certain by that point that she was just reciting a book she'd read, but she found it didn't really matter. "Wael was so impressed at The Bard's ingenuity that they healed his brother's sickness and let both of them live among the stars so they could travel the world forever side by side." She finished the story with a flourish and a small bow.

Kana threw an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a one-armed hug. Kai never felt smaller than she did when next to Kana, but he never made her feel lesser for her lack of stature. "Thank you for the story, my friend."

"You had heard it before."

"Yes," he confirmed, "but never from you. No two people tell a story the same way."

They fell into a comfortable silence again, watching the stars in their slow turning across the sky. The warmth of company and quiet started to drag at her eyelids, but she shook it away. "Hey, Kana?"

"Yes, my friend?"

"If it turns out that the gods have…" she waved vaguely at the sky, " _that_ in mind for me, will you do me a favor?"

"Anything."

"Will you still tell me stories?"

He was quiet for a long moment and when he finally answered, his voice was more somber than usual. "Every night, Kai. Every night." He gave her a nudge and just like that, his smile was back. "But you've had enough stories for tonight. Go to sleep. The stars and I will be here when you wake up."

She sighed and stood up. She took a moment to stretch the stiffness out of her shoulders and back, then waved a quick "good night" to Kana and snuck into her tent.

Aloth and Edér were both asleep in their bedrolls on either side of the tent, her roll laid out between them in case she tried to sleep. Kai smiled, watching them for a moment before removing her boots and armor as quietly as she could and slipping into bed. The calm that had come over her while listening to Kana's stories still lingered, keeping the voices at bay, and she hoped it let her get a couple hours sleep before they returned.

She had just closed her eyes when she felt a warmth at her hand, and opened them to meet Aloth's--no, Iselmyr's--eyes, their fingers laced together in the space between their bedrolls. "The gods titch ye an I'll batter em aw aff Eora." Aloth bit his lip then, stopping what could have been a fascinating rant, and over the next few seconds Iselmyr faded from his eyes.

Kai smiled. She wasn't completely sure what she had said, but she understood the sentiment. "Thank you, darling. It's good to know that you're on my side."

"Always," Aloth said, and Kai squeezed his hand.

A heavy weight fell across her back as Edér slung an arm over her, sliding his bedroll closer to hers. "That goes for me, too. I think. Stars are all well and good, Kiki, but we like you better on the ground with us."

As sleep dragged her under, surrounded by the warmth and gentle chatter of her friends, Kai couldn't help but agree. She liked it better here too.

**Author's Note:**

> I think not enough stories end in platonic cuddles and in my mind Edér is king of the platonic cuddle
> 
> title is from Coldplay's "A Sky Full of Stars"


End file.
